It's Complicated
by Bellalyse Winchester
Summary: He had to trust her. She leapt into the unfathomable, empty gap between the ships.  Can two best friends remain friends when someone is depending on them to be so much more?  UPDATED! Rated T for safety.
1. Chapter 1

**Totally spontaneous fiction I thought up. I ADORE Donna Noble, my favoritest companion in everrs, (Yes I know spelling/grammar police) and so I had to come up with a way to bring her back. The idea is sort of alluded to, but basically it's this:**

**Donna starts to overheat w/ the Time Lord-ness inside of her.  
The Doctor uses his Chameleon arch to save her, but leaves her memories intact. **

**Additionally, I figured the Doctor and Donna are totally epic as friends, but I'd throw them a curveball and invent something (which makes no sense, I know) to change their relationship status to 'It's Complicated.' **

**I own nothing.**

**Once again, I know the basis for plot makes no sense. So what, it's Doctor Who-It can be completely preposterous and yet so unbelievably believable.**

* * *

"Doctor-"

"Not now, Donna. Just _wait _until you see the burning rivers of Lavi Three. They say as the waters reach the very edge of the cliff, they glow red and orange, and you can see each flaming speck of water soar off from the rocks and shine at every angle-what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Donna replied quickly, shrugging. Nothing could have been further from the truth, but the Doctor saw her deceitful smile and didn't need any further convincing.

"Right. Off to Lavi Three!"

Donna closed her eyes, turning away silently. She couldn't, wouldn't tell the Doctor what was happening. It was too…weird. Even for them, it was impossible-it wasn't right, her guess was wrong. It didn't make sense. Still…she was late.

She had never, never been late before.

But it couldn't be that, because she hadn't-that-for a while. Certainly not while traveling with the Doctor. She had only one idea, but it was totally preposterous.

When she had begun to react poorly to taking in the Doctor's mind, he took something called a Chameleon arch and put it on her head-it hurt, but he told her without it, he faced two unthinkable options: watching her die in front of him, or watching her leave, her memory lost forever. She told him afterwards she'd rather die than leave him; he replied he'd rather die than see her go. He added that he guessed, as she was human to begin with, the time lord DNA that was torn from her left a genetic trace within her-what it was he had not clue. What if it was…a child?

She obediently followed him from the TARDIS as it landed, but as they walked towards the banister, beyond which the burning rivers flowed, she frowned uncomfortably. If what she feared was happening, was-not that she was saying it was, because it was mad-what would happen? She had seen how he had reacted to Jenny, a literal clone of himself; while he came to accept her, could he accept a child with so little Time Lord DNA as his own child…? No, that was not happening. It was totally, unbelievably preposterous. She wasn't having any alien babies.

"Look, Donna-the foam bursts into flames-"

"Yes, I can see, thank you," She replied tartly, instantly regretting it. The Doctor looked sharply at her.

"Are you sure you're okay, Donna?" he asked, and she knew he wouldn't accept a shrugged-off answer; his eyes were narrowed alertly. She sighed.

"I don't know," she admitted. She wouldn't give a specific answer, however- "I think it might be something from that Chameleon thing."

The Doctor instantly became concerned. "Do you feel alright? Do you need to lie down or something? There's an infirmary here."

Donna nodded quickly. "Maybe I should, yeah," she said thoughtfully. The Doctor nodded-apparently he knew the layout of the site by heart, because he began leading her down a stone path.

"Any other symptoms? Feeling queasy, have a headache-"

"I think-I'm feeling dizzy," Donna answered, as the world began to spin. They found a building labeled 'Infirmary' and entered, and a nurse led them to a back room.

"The doctor will be in shortly to help you," she said after the Doctor explained how Donna was feeling and she took something called a z-ray. Donna couldn't speak, her hand pressed into her forehead and her mouth curled into a scowl.

The Doctor paced back and forth, and when Donna shot him an exasperated look he proceeded into bouncing on his heels.

"Waiting rooms-always enough to make me antsy," he said uncomfortably. "Wonder if there's a little shop-all hospitals need a little shop."

The door opened again and a dark-skinned man with an amiable smile entered. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs.…"

"We're not a couple," they instinctively insisted. The man raised his eyebrows, but shrugged. "Who am I to judge, eh? Well, Mr.-"

"Doctor, actually."

"And I'm Donna."

The man nodded. "Doctor, I am happy to say that they're all perfectly fine."

Donna's heart froze solid as the Doctor furrowed his brow. "All…?"

"Donna and the children, of course," he said. Donna could practically see the Doctor's hearts skip a beat as he exhaled suddenly. "She's carrying twins."


	2. Chapter 2

"No-no-no," the Doctor breathed, his eyes wide with horror. The doctor-the medical one, not the one of everything-appeared confused, and looked at Donna in concern.

"You haven't been hiding this, have you?" he asked, frowning sympathetically. The Doctor looked up at her in disbelief.

"You knew?" he asked. She grimaced, looking away. "You-"

"I didn't know what happened," she cried, finally meeting his gaze. "Yeah, I missed my period, I've thrown up a few mornings, but I didn't think anything like this was gonna happen! I thought it was alien food!"

The Doctor set his jaw-as though she still held his mind in hers, she knew what he was thinking: he was furious, _furious _at her, even though he knew he couldn't blame her, which just made him madder. He was silent as they returned to the TARDIS, and while she milled about within the control room, he fled into his bedroom.

She didn't know why she preferred this room to her own; it was loud and enormous. However, it held something unbelievably familiar out there in the cold, strange space, something that not even her affects from home could replace: it was her home. She had given her heart to the TARDIS, and she couldn't imagine anything tearing her from it.

Twins, twins, twins…she allowed the word to fill her mind, how big it really was amazing her. She was going to bring two people into the universe. Two people-human or not-were suddenly, impossibly about to be brought into existence.

Her hand instinctively found her belly, and she brought her fingers across the cloth of her shirt-it had grown tight around her, she realized, though she hadn't noticed. She closed her eyes, listening to the song of the TARDIS around her. That pulse of life, she was certain it was ringing through her and through her children.

"_No,"_ he had said. He didn't want it, not at all. She allowed herself to concede that it could've been out of shock, not disgust, which he spoke. Detached though he was, he was never heartless.

She slowly crouched to the floor, hanging on to the control panel of the TARDIS.

In his bedroom, the Doctor was trying-and failing-to sleep soundly. Nightmares swept through his head, faces screaming into unkind blackness. Some were Time Lords, children of whom he still dreamt of fondly, in remembrance. Now there was only terror gripping his hearts, terror and the sound of death.

Others were not Time Lords. They were the faces of companions, lost to the stars because he could not protect them. Innocent people dead for his hubris, his incredible hubris, when he believed he could protect them.

He woke hours later in a cold sweat, grasping the sheets of his bed for dear life and clenching his jaw. Children-children aboard the TARDIS. He sat upright, rubbing his eyes with his palms. He felt nauseated, more so than when he had first been getting used to the TARDIS's back-and-forth flight.

He got to his feet dazedly, crossing the room and stopping by his mirror. He could see the face of the daughter of the Family of Blood; some things could never change. It was his own face, however, that drew his gaze. He saw an old man-with the mask of a younger man notwithstanding-tired and ragged. He needed to shave, but he didn't. He didn't care that he looked a mess. What he wanted was to go somewhere ancient and magnificent, or some faraway future planet filled with tacky tourist traps and out-of-the-way, understated scenic views. Someplace fun. But more than anything, he wanted to be able to look at Donna without remembering all he had lost-and how close he came to losing her.

As he left his own room and entered the control room, he found Donna lying against the control panel, her soft snores bringing an inadvertent smile to his lips. At the sound of his footsteps she stirred, rolling over and blinking up at him dazedly.

"Whattimizzit?" she asked before remembering the reason she was on the floor in the first place. "Oh-oh."

The Doctor exhaled slowly, leaning onto the controls before kneeling down and crossing his legs in front of himself.

"Where do you want to go next?" he asked. She opened her mouth, then cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"What?"

"Where do you want to go?" he asked, his voice a little more firm.

She furrowed her brow. "You-you still want me to come?" she asked in surprise. "I mean-even though-"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Donna. Even if I did want to throw you out of the TARDIS before-not that I did-" he added quickly as she shot him a sharp glare, "-_anyways_, I've got to look out for you now. The universe is a dangerous place, every little bit of it. Don't want you to wander into a matter-dissolving vapor, do we? So just answer the question: Where do you want to go?"

Donna was silent for a moment, though it seemed like an eternity to them both. "What about…Felspoon?"

The Doctor forced a grin, and Donna wore one to match.

And so passed seven months.


	3. Chapter 3

"Donna! Are you coming?" The Doctor looked at his watch uncomfortably. "Come on! I want to get going!"

Donna shot him a snaky reply, and he couldn't help grinning. When finally he walked through her bedroom door, he laughed openly, not minding her scowl.

"Oh-oooooh, they are gonna _laugh_, I mean you're _huge!_"

"Oi, spaceman!" Donna snapped. "Even if they're your skinny alien babies, two of them still take up some space!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "You're like _Klom!_" he exclaimed, a planet Donna had only heard in reference, though from his snort she suspected it was a big one.

"_Oi!_ You still haven't told me where we're going!"

At this the Doctor's smile wavered. "Yeah, well…I'm just hoping we get a good reception. Not sure how she'll react…"

"She?" Donna exclaimed, laughing at last. "Of course it's a girl, what's new with you? Why can't we visit Captain Jack-"

"Trust me on this, Donna-just trust me-" He took her shoulders and grimaced. "-Captain Jack does not age well."

Donna rolled her eyes. "Whatever, at least he's _human_. Alright, let's meet this girl."

"You're gonna be surprised!"

"Nothing can surprise me now," Donna assured him. The Doctor just grabbed her hand and pulled her to the door.

"Surprise!"

As they stepped from the TARDIS, Donna was indeed surprised-astonished. Her hands flew to her mouth, and she managed despite her increased girth to be at the door in moments. As she began knocking hurriedly, the Doctor pushed his hands into his pockets and walked up beside her.

"I can't wait to see the look on your mother's face-"

The door opened, and Donna squealed with delight as she was pulled into the arms of her grandfather. Their embrace lasted for nearly a minute before Wilf released her to pull the Doctor into a hug. This was briefer, as he seemed to realize somewhat belatedly how difficult it was to get Donna into a full hug.

"Donna-you-your-"

"Merry Christmas, Wilfred," the Doctor grinned, and Donna looked at him in horror.

"Christmas? You know how I feel about Christmas, Doctor."

Wilf just looked between them in amazement. "You-and you?"

"_No!_ No, no, no, no," Donna and the Doctor exclaimed in unison. When Wilfred furrowed his brow, the Doctor attempted to explain further, but all he managed to get out were the words, "There was a thing-" before, from the kitchen, a voice called out.

"Who is it, Dad? Not some beggar looking for money?"

The Doctor grimaced; no matter how open-minded he tried to be, Sylvia Noble simply _was not_ his favorite person. Not even in his top 10998435037. Well-10998435037.2. She was right after that. Of course, that made her 324 from the bottom.

Donna, however, had grown callously immune to her mother's scathing words over the years. All the more power to her, Donna.

"Mum!" she exclaimed, throwing herself past Wilf (who had to press himself against the wall to let her through) to reach her.

"What happened?" Wilf asked under his breath.

"Something alien," the Doctor said. "I'll explain later, to you and Sylvia. She's having twins!" he added, something akin to excitement creeping into his voice.

He heard Donna's mum from the kitchen as she shouted, "He put a baby in you!" Grimacing, he pressed his thumb and forefinger into his forehead. It was going to be a long night.

"So, let me get this straight, Doctor," Sylvia said. "Donna got pregnant because she absorbed some sort of regurgitation energy from that mega-crisis?"

The Doctor allowed for her mistakes and nodded. "Something like that, yeah-_regeneration_ energy from the _meta-_crisis."

"And you're gonna raise the child?" Wilf asked concernedly. The Doctor smiled.

"Children," he corrected. "Come off it, you didn't think Donna got so big from one kid?"

Before Donna could say "_Spaceman!_" her mother reached an arm out quickly to them.

"You've got to stay with us!" she exclaimed. "You said she's eight months along-why haven't you shown your face until now? I'm not having her off in some Martian hospital having her child, and she's certainly not staying in that blue box. It's too tiny for one person, let alone four."

"It's bigger on the inside," Donna explained.

"And anyway, I hear babies are notoriously tiny," the Doctor pointed out. Sylvia rolled her eyes.

"Oh, come on, Doctor. Babies need many things! Do you have strollers, cribs, toys, diapers, baby food?"

The Doctor opened his mouth to reply but found no sound. He looked to Donna, sputtering for words, while she snorted.

"That's the second time in your life you've been speechless, I think, time boy," she laughed.

"I-I figured we'd cross the bridge when we came to it!"

Sylvia smirked, proud to throw the Doctor from his pedestal. "Well. You've still got one question to answer, why haven't you come so far? We've got a right to know about this." Wilf nodded in agreement, and the Doctor looked at Donna furtively.

"Trust me, in a few days, you'll know," he murmured. "That is, if you're certain you want us to stay." Seeing no objections from Wilf or Sylvia, he went on. "Since Donna still has a bit of Time Lord in her, her pregnancy's been sort of like a Time Lady's. Like a human pregnancy, but…take the mood swings times eleven, add the fact that it _is _Donna, and also, cravings for every flavor in the universe. I had to scour three galaxies to find the right kind of chocolate cake for her."

Donna hit his arm. "I think I know why Time Ladies get so cranky during pregnancy," she scowled. "Time Lords. This arse has woken me up every five hours during the night every night since we found out, asking if I'm okay, if I need anything, if I had any bad dreams."

"Isn't that what you're supposed to do?" he asked. "It's not my fault I'm out of practice. See-cranky, right here. This is the reason most children of Gallifrey are grown in test tubes. Test tubes don't get on my nerves. Hundred words a minute? Try a hundred moods."

Donna frowned, while Sylvia looked at her sympathetically and Wilf smiled.

"Donna can stay in her old room," Sylvia said. "I'm sure you don't mind sleeping on the couch…?" she added with a venomous stare. The Doctor nodded easily.

"I'll just sit the TARDIS in the back-you've looked for spaceships on your hill, Wilf," he added, "want to go in one?"

He immediately saw the delight in the man's eyes, which made him smile all the more brightly. "I can?"

"I'd be proud to have you in!" he grinned happily, standing and walking to the front door. Wilf followed him, and they walked out to the TARDIS, where the Doctor opened the door and waved him in. "You're gonna love it, trust me."

Wilf stared at the box tentatively before stepping inside and back out.

"You're kidding me!" he exclaimed, eyes wide as he looked on either side of the box. "Just-wow!"

"Go on in! I don't mean to brag, but I'm a terrific decorator. Twelve master bedrooms, each with luxury bath, walk-in closet, canopy bed, the works. Fully stocked kitchen, when I just feel like hanging out in the TARDIS all summer. Pool, library-pool _in _the library-gym, three science labs, and a few doors I've never opened-I love a mystery."

"It's magnificent," Wilf breathed, stepping inside and spinning about in wonder. "This is your home?"

"Well-yeah," the Doctor answered honestly. "Come on, don't like just leaving her in the street. She gets antsy, I get antsy-and I'm no fun at all when I'm antsy. At least, that's what Martha Washington said. Frankly, who's not a little antsy when you're surrounded on all sides by robot ninjas wielding machine guns?"

Wilfred laughed, but the look in the Doctor's eye told him it was no joke. Shaking his head, he changed the subject.

"So…how've you and Donna been?" he asked. The Doctor marveled at Wilfred Mott: the only human in the world who could stand inside what he'd dreamt of his entire life and still care about his granddaughter more than anything.

"Brilliant," the Doctor answered. "She's still the little general, in case you're wondering. I'd been afraid…it…would slow her down, but she fought off an entire platoon of Cybermen with only a sonic screwdriver last month while I disabled their bomb."

Wilf grinned. "That's Donna. First day of school, it was, and they sent her home for biting!"

The Doctor laughed. "Wouldn't want her on my bad side, let me tell you. All right, we've landed!"

"This is a miracle, Doctor," Wilf said, waving his arms about the TARDIS. "This, and Donna. I mean, I'm sure there's no one safer she and her kids can be with."

At that, the Doctor faltered. "Sometimes I don't think so," he murmured, looking away from Wilfred tiredly.


	4. Chapter 4

**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!**

**Okay, look, I'm SOOO sorry for not updating in over 9000 years. (Ah, drat, internet memes invading my message!) There are a million reasons for this, but none of them more important than the fact that I am a very fickle creature. I started writing more fanfics. I wrote my own stuff. Life's been busy. I know this can't satisfy my raving fans (all four of you out there!) but also, my old netbook got a virus, so I had to start with only my thumb drives' saved files. So there. **

**Alrighty, let me add that I own nothing. Heeeeere's fanfic!  
**

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Silvia, it turned out, had in his absence discovered just what the Doctor meant about Donna's mood swings.

"_I did not!_"

"_You did so!_"

"Ladies, ladies!" the Doctor exclaimed, raising his hands into the air as he and Wilf entered. "What's going on?"

"I'll tell you what's going on, spaceman," Donna scowled. "We are _not_—" here she stamped her foot for emphasis, "—staying _here_."

Silvia put her hands on her hips. "All I said was that I made some cake earlier, and would she want some—"

"You're calling me _fat!_" Donna cried, falling back onto the couch, which groaned a little beneath her. The Doctor was quick to intervene, wiping tears from Donna's cheeks as he rolled his eyes at Wilf and mouthed, '_See what I meant?'_

"She didn't mean it," he said quickly to Donna. "Slip of the tongue. She didn't mean it. Remember what that Matron on Jerafopolis said to do whenever you get upset?"

Donna sniffed, nodding slowly. "T—take a deep breath and count to eleven, and think about something I like."

The Doctor nodded. "Go on. One, two…"

"Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven." Donna breathed slowly before looking back up at the Doctor with large eyes.

"What'd you think about?" he asked calmly.

"Cake," Donna replied. "I want some of that cake."

The Doctor found himself soon in the unfortunate position of sitting in a room alone with Sylvia Noble as Wilf and Donna shuffled from the room to get cake and tea. He swallowed, leaning forward and backward in his chair and scratching his wrist uncomfortably. Sylvia didn't seem to show any weakness; she was the pitiless stone he knew she was. He looked away from her, imagining the things that could be whirling within her mind…why had he gotten her daughter pregnant; why did he bring her now; the list could be veritably endless.

"You put up with her like that for eight months?"

The Doctor blinked. Was there a whit if humor in Sylvia's eye—it must've been, for she looked away, scowling quickly. He allowed a little smile to creep to his lips before setting his jaw to match hers.

"Yeah," he replied. "It's been worse, but it can be better, too. She once locked herself in her room for a weekend, I don't know why."

Sylvia swallowed. "Still. You should've brought her back sooner; I'm her mother, and I need to know when something like this happens."

"To be fair, we were eight thousand years in the future when this happened."

"You could've come back." For someone decidedly closed-minded, Sylvia certainly picked up the whole time-and-space thing fairly easily.

"We got sidetracked," the Doctor replied. "I did mean to get around to it early on, but Donna was all moody and then we got into…some stuff."

"_Dangerous_ stuff?" Sylvia asked, pursing her lips and staring at the Doctor. He shrank a little beneath her glare, but held his ground nonetheless.

"I protect her," he answered stiffly. "I won't let anything happen to her, or them."

At the mention of the twins, the Doctor knew even Sylvia's heart could soften; he was right. Her eyes lit up, and she leaned forwards, resting her chin on her knuckles.

"Have you thought about names yet?" she asked. The Doctor smiled in spite of himself.

"We have," he answered.

"I always thought Andrew was a nice name," she said. "If Donna had been a boy, Geoff and I agreed on that name. Are they girls, or boys?"

"One of each," the Doctor answered.

"You can't give them the wrong names," Sylvia interrupted. "My sister's girl, Nerys—lovely girl, but you can't type the name into a computer without it getting underlined in red. It's really frustrating."

"We've got the right names for them," the Doctor promised.

"I hope you don't call the boy 'Doctor Junior,'" she went on. "A name like that, no child can—"

"We've got the names," the Doctor insisted. Were Donna and Wilfred taking forever in the kitchen on _purpose_, making him spend time with this woman? Swallowing, and finding a rare space where Sylvia said nothing, he went on. "They're names I never thought I could bear to say again. Their names are—"

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**Oh my goodness! What could the names be? Well, I already know of course, but I'd like to hear what you think they should be. PLEASE comment, I LOVE to hear from you!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Aaaaaaand nao the moment you've all been waiting for: the NAMES!**

**I slaved over this chapter to finish it in a day, so remember to REVIEW...please...?  
**

**Thanks to JENNYRATED ANOMALY and JULIA AURELIA for their guesses! They were both correct in that I would **_**never ever**_** give the kids new series companion names. **

**Look, I'm just a teen, so I know basically nothing about childbirth. Forgive me if I tell it poorly.  
**

* * *

"Deep breaths, Donna, deep breaths—"

"Stuff it, _time boy!_" Donna's nails were buried an inch in the Doctor's arm, a fact of which he was acutely aware. They approached the hospital desk, and the receptionist looked up before calling for a wheelchair.

"Are you the father, sir?" she asked as Donna set herself down in the wheelchair.

"Yes—no—yes—that is to say—"

"Yes, he's the _bleeding father_," Donna growled. "I'm having a couple of _friggin_' babies here!" She turned to look at the Doctor, gritting her teeth. "I never should've watched _Alien_," she added through gritted teeth.

"That—that's completely unfair," the Doctor replied, indignant. "Time Lords don't implant their eggs in hosts! And I'm certainly not an alien queen!"

Donna shot him a dry look that said, _Are you sure?_

"Could you—retract your claws for a moment?" he asked. She released his arm, then grabbed on again, all the tighter. "Right…that was a good, long moment."

The world seemed to fast-forward; they were in the operating room, Donna was pushing and cursing at the Doctor while the Doctor rubbed his hand over her arm reassuringly.

"Go on, you're doing great, come on," he said as she squeezed his arm.

The other doctor smiled. "I see a head."

"A head! Donna, think about that, not long now!" Donna grunted in reply, though the Doctor was beside himself.

As they heard a cry fill the room, the doctor handed a small bundle to the Doctor, who looked at it with stars in his eyes.

"The boy," the doctor said, smiling as Donna continued to push.

"Donna, look! Look at the little guy! Baby Adric!"

A smile broke over Donna's face as she reached out to the baby. Her fingers brushed his cheek and she sighed, before her face contorted and she continued pushing.

The Doctor looked at the child in his arms—a tiny little thing, a miracle. His eyes were closed tightly, but he was still the cutest child he could remember. He couldn't think of a single word to say; suddenly, he didn't need to say anything.

"_Ah! _It's _darling!_"

The Doctor looked up, and the child was pulled into the arms of Sylvia Noble. Wilf was behind her, patting Donna on the arm when he reached her.

"We came the moment we got your text," Sylvia said, rocking the child back and forth. He was quiet, his little hands curled into fists over the soft blue blanket wrapped about him. "Is this the boy, or the girl?"

"I see another head," the doctor said, and the Doctor let Donna's nails into his arm once more as she gave the final push—

"Congratulations, you've got two beautiful children," the doctor said, lifting up a tiny girl in a pink blanket. The Doctor took her and handed her to Donna, who held the child close, smiling.

"Oh, baby Susan," she breathed, looking down on the little girl. She was squirming and whimpering, but Donna just smiled. "She's—so precious," she whispered, pulling the baby close. Sylvia allowed the Doctor to take Adric again; he held the child close, planting a kiss on his forehead. He felt a new world enter his, a massive world that he had so long ago forgotten…and he knew this time, he wouldn't let it end. He was a father again—sort of—and he liked it already.


	6. Chapter 6

"Donna, fetch me that internal stabilizer."

In any other situation, Donna would've asked just what that looked like again, and how he expected her to remember all of his crap lying around the TARDIS; now, however, she snatched up the device and passed it to him without a word. He inserted it into the console, and watched as the circles on the screen spun ever more rapidly. At least it meant they were increasing speed.

Her nerves were on edge, and she knew her teeth would be ground down to the gums, but she remained silent, knowing that her words would do nothing for the Doctor as he worked, except perhaps raise his anxiety.

"We are…eight hundred miles behind their ship, but closing." He looked up at her, hands still moving across the controls to get them going just that little bit faster. "You know you're mad."

Donna couldn't fake a smile, even for him. "Just get us there."

He nodded, and the ship lurched forwards again with newfound speed. "Four hundred miles—Two hundred. Fifty miles."

Donna rushed to the door as the TARDIS began to slow.

"I'll overtake them by three miles, and then you'll fall back to them in a matter of seconds. I'll extend the atmosphere—"

"I know," Donna interrupted. He nodded briskly, his back to Donna as the door flew open. He had to _trust_ her.

"Good luck," was the last he said to her before she leapt into the unfathomable, empty gap between the ships.

At first she saw nothing, but suddenly the ship was there; a Donna in motion remained in motion, and she managed to grasp the bars outside an airlock. The TARDIS must've hovered closely behind her, because she could still breathe. Anxious, quick hands opened the latch, and she crawled inside as she heard the TARDIS shoot off behind her.

She had to be quick. Looking up, she saw exactly what the Doctor had described to her: a lever marked '_Emergency_' beside a panel listing different codes of danger. Quickly she swallowed, turning and pulling the lever and holding the intercom.

"R—red level emergency," she said shakily. "All guards report to my sector immediately."

She closed her eyes; now she would have to wait. She prayed the ruse would lend the Doctor enough time…closing her eyes, she felt a tear fall along her cheek.

She had to have faith…

She could hear the stomping of feet fast approaching her, and braced herself. She knew she was bound to be taken prisoner for stowing away, but it was better than the alternative.

"Halt." Looking up, she saw three groups of guards converged on her.

"Oi! I'm not bloody moving, all right?" she snapped at them. For a moment they froze. Then—

"_Blue level emergency! Intruder on nursery floor, attempted kidnapping in progress."_

Donna's face grew scarlet; that would be the Doctor. The teams nodded to one another. "You watch the intruder here; we'll catch the other one," one of them said.

Donna held her breath as some of them ran off. They wouldn't catch him, she told herself confidently. He's escape, and they'd be safe. That was what mattered.

_Oh, God, they'd better be safe._

##

She knew the TARDIS would appear; she always did. What she didn't know was how the tears would fall from her eyes as she bolted through the doors, or how her shoulders would tremble with emotion as she took the children in her arms, finally, after far too much time apart. She didn't know how right it would feel when she fell into the Doctor's arms and sighed, pressing her face into his shoulder.

She knew his embrace was the safest place in the world, but until now, she didn't know how much she needed it.


End file.
